Dwight Eisenhower, the Warrior, & John Kennedy, the Cold Warrior

Student Publications Student Scholarship Fall 2014 Dwight Eisenhower, The aW rrior, & John Kennedy, The oldC Warrior: Foreign Policy Under Two Presidents Andrew C. Nosti Gettysburg College Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship Part of the American Politics Commons, Defense and Security Studies Commons, European History Commons, Political History Commons, Public Policy Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, and the United States History Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Nosti, Andrew C., "Dwight Eisenhower, The aW rrior, & John Kennedy, The oC ld Warrior: Foreign Policy Under Two Presidents" (2014). Student Publications. 265. https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/265 This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution. Cupola permanent link: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/ 265 This open access student research paper is brought to you by The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The uC pola. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Dwight Eisenhower, The aW rrior, & John Kennedy, The oldC Warrior: Foreign Policy Under Two Presidents Abstract This paper presents a comparison between President Eisenhower and President Kennedy's foreign affairs policies, specifically regarding the Cold War, by examining the presidents' interactions with four distinct Cold War regions. Keywords Eisenhower, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Foreign Affairs, Policy, Foreign Policy, Cold War, President Disciplines American Politics | Anthropology | Defense and Security Studies | European History | History | Political History | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Public Policy | Social and Cultural Anthropology | United States History Comments This paper was written for Prof. Julie Hendon's First Year Seminar, FYS 103: Bringing the Past into the Present, Fall 2014. This student research paper is available at The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/ student_scholarship/265 Andrew Nosti Dwight Eisenhower, The Warrior, & John Kennedy, The Cold Warrior: Foreign Policy Under Two Presidents Introduction The date was November 19th, 1963, the centennial of the Gettysburg Address. A person living in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania picked up that day’s copy of The Gettysburg Times. Looking up at the reader were two different presidents who represented two different political philosophies and ideologies of American history. One picture was of Dwight David Eisenhower, the retired war general and America’s 34th President. The other photograph was of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, a former war hero, accomplished author and the current president of the United States, Eisenhower’s successor. Letters addressed to Paul L. Roy, an editor for The Gettysburg Times, accompanied both photographs, one written by Eisenhower and another by Kennedy. Both letters focused upon the same theme: the legacy of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. These two letters, so similar in subject but so different in meaning, present an opportunity to compare and contrast the foreign policy stances between President Eisenhower and President Kennedy; a portrayal that goes beyond their opinions on the Gettysburg Address and outwards to their views of America and the world around it (Eisenhower, The Gettysburg Times and Kennedy, The Gettysburg Times). Throughout this paper, I touch upon different instances of foreign affair policy that connect to the ideals these presidents set forward in their letters. I start with the letters themselves then branch off to broader topics, such as Cuba, Vietnam, or Berlin. To do this, I use speeches, letters, or interviews given or written by the presidents themselves that reflect their ideology, and then provide historical evidence that support their rhetoric in action. I found this copy of The Gettysburg Times while doing research in the Adams County Historical Society, located in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Gettysburg Times is a local periodical, founded in 1800, that publishes every day except for Sundays and certain holidays. I accessed the article online with the assistance of a volunteer within the historical society by typing in a date and pulling up the issue I desired (“Welcome to the Newspaper Archives of the Gettysburg Times”). Letters from the Gettysburg Times A little background on the significance of this time period and of Gettysburg should be understood before diving into the broader complexities of these presidents’ foreign affairs stances. After President Eisenhower left office in early 1961, he retired to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and would spend the remainder of his days as its most illustrious resident, passing away on March 28, 1969. President Kennedy, unable to speak during the centennial celebrations, had made a visit to Gettysburg on March 31st of the same year, but only took a private tour instead of making a public appearance. In 1963, the Cold War was at the height of its tensions. President Eisenhower spent eight years trying to contain the Soviet Union and the spread of communism abroad. President Kennedy had already guided America through a little over two and a half years of escalating tensions between the world’s two premier superpowers. The strains of the Cold War formed the basis of both presidents’ foreign affair policies. Both articles were fairly brief, Eisenhower’s containing three paragraphs and Kennedy’s four, and fit into the headlining position, directly at the top center of the first page. Despite their brevity, these letters predominantly take up the top portion of the front cover of the newspaper and are surrounded by a black outline, creating a box that encompasses the two letters. Outside of the two letters, the cover page consists of eight other columns, five of which discuss the celebrations throughout the previous and present day (Eisenhower and Kennedy). These two short letters contain hints of a complex dynamic between President Kennedy and former President Eisenhower. Each president used his letter to discuss more than just the Gettysburg Address; each man took the content of Lincoln’s famous discourse and shaped it to convey his views of America’s role in the propagation of liberty at home and abroad. Although Eisenhower had already left office, his letter still displays his opinions on foreign affairs that he expressed throughout his tenure in office. And despite the fact that Kennedy’s assassination three days after the publication of his letter overshadowed its importance and left it in the vast darkness of forgotten history, his letter still accurately portrays his foreign affairs up to and including that moment in time. Eisenhower staunchly believed in liberty as an American ideal while Kennedy was a vehement Cold Warrior, considering liberty to be a right America should uphold throughout the entire world. This disparity is what I address throughout this paper; starting with the two letters written to Paul L. Roy and then branching out to a broader historical perspective, I use these letters to construct a literary illustration on the dissimilarities between Eisenhower and Kennedy’s foreign affair ideologies. The letters found within the November 19th Gettysburg Times edition were written as follows. Eisenhower’s letter (Eisenhower, The Gettysburg Times): “Dear Mr. Roy: On the 100th Anniversary of his immortal Gettysburg Address, the nation pays tribute to one of history’s towering figures, Abraham Lincoln. Of all our great national leaders, Lincoln was most typically American. His achievements from the humblest beginnings to the final crowning years of his life stand as a lasting inspiration to every citizen to respect and defend the fundamental principles on which our governmental system of personal liberty and individual opportunity was founded. The Nation calls on us now for the same faith and devotion so deeply felt by Lincoln as he stood here amid the havoc of Gettysburg to memorialize our way of life as a government ‘of the people, by the people and for the people.’ More than ever we need the example of Abraham Lincoln to guide, influence, and uphold us. The wise compassionate, challenging words of his Gettysburg Address should be etched on the minds and hearts of every American. They will ever be one of the brightest jewels in the nation’s rich heritage. Sincerely, Dwight David Eisenhower” Kennedy’s letter (Kennedy, The Gettysburg Times): “Paul L. Roy The Gettysburg Times Gettysburg, Penn From the past man obtains the insights, wisdom and hope to face with confidence the uncertainties of the future. Abraham Lincoln was keenly aware of this when, a century ago, he journeyed to Gettysburg to make ‘a few appropriate remarks.’ Today, as we honor Lincoln’s immortal eulogy to the dead on Cemetery Ridge, let us remember as well those thousands of American patriots whose graves at home, beneath the sea and in distant lands are silent sentries of our heritage. Lincoln and others did indeed give us a ‘birth of freedom,’ but the goals of liberty and freedom, the obligations of keeping outs a government of and by the people are never-ending. On this solemn occasion let us all re-dedicate ourselves to the perpetuation of those ideals of which Lincoln spoke so luminously. As Americans, we can do no less. John F. Kennedy” There are two significant lines within these two letters that hint at the beliefs of each president. For Eisenhower, the line is: “More than ever we need the example of Abraham Lincoln to guide, influence, and uphold us,” (Eisenhower, The Gettysburg Times). Eisenhower wished for Americans to take up the mantle that Abraham Lincoln had left behind; a mantle that included supporting liberty in lands outside of America itself, just as Lincoln did with the Confederacy. Kennedy, on the other hand, wrote, “On this solemn occasion let us all re-dedicate ourselves to the perpetuation of those ideals of which Lincoln spoke so luminously,” (Kennedy, The Gettysburg Times).

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